FEAR: Beta Squad
by Angels of Shadow Captain
Summary: Fixed some issues with storyline, characters etc. Thanks to everyone who reviewed it so far. You help fix this story. I have updated the chapters...if the Auther's note appears at the end of chapter 2 it has updated.
1. Prologue

**F.E.A.R**

**Beta Squad**

Introduction

F.E.A.R: Beta Squad takes place directly after F.E.A.R 2 ended. As I have understood Extraction Point, Perseus Mandate and F.E.A.R 2 all happen at the same time. Which is where I got this idea from. Pointman, named Jason on my story, has escaped Paxton Fettel and was drawn to the Still Island facility by the Telesthetic Amplifier. Both original F.E.A.R expansion are cannon for this story.

Keira Stokes has survived her shooting but barely. Alma stands over Michael Becket while he is still tied to the machine. A third F.E.A.R team was heading for the facility when they learned the last member of Alpha Squad, Jason, was heading there and they sought to rescue him but met Replica forces outside as they descended on Becket and Stokes who are unknown to Beta Squad. The youngest of Beta Squad, Artanis Drake, prepares to enter the facility

Prologue

The gunfire was incessant, almost as painful to Artanis' ears as the smoke was to his eyes. Bodies were everywhere, bodies of both Replica forces and of Beta Squad. Artanis watched in horror as a missile flew, almost as if in slow motion, at Sergeant Murdoch. The following explosion slammed Artanis into the airlock with such a force that his vision began to blur. He had but one choice now. Enter the facility and stop Alma destroying what was left of the area. With a groan of pain and using the wall for support, Artanis began to stumble inside the facility and towards an uncertain fate.

He heard muffled talking coming from the door up ahead, something that shouldn't have happened. As he neared the heavy metal door, a weight began to pull down on Artanis' shoulders, like gravity itself wanted him to keep away from the room. But no force on Earth was going to stop him reaching his goal, even if he died in the attempt. Less than a meter to go and he found it almost impossible to continue, let alone stand up. The pain he was feeling was like nothing he had ever felt before, so full on and powerful. One last step was all that it would take, then into the unknown. He almost leapt onto the door and, to his surprise, smashed the thing right off it's rusty hinges. The sound was deafening, dust and the like scattered into the air. He quickly raised his pistol, out of pure instinct, and aimed it straight at...a woman.

'What the hell?' she exclaimed loudly. 'Get out of my way before...' she barked before something cut her off mid-sentence. Artanis watched as the world around him took on an orange glow, at the same time turning darkest black. The woman in front of him tensed up, as if someone had grabbed her from behind. And then he heard it, the voice of a vengeful goddess calling the very Apocalypse onto this one woman.

'_You have brought naught but pain and death to those around you Genevieve Aristide. Now pay for it all!' _The voice both whispered and shouted inside Artanis' mind.

The woman in front of him, Aristide as it was, began to convulse with pain as something crawl beneath her skin. Artanis turned his head away as the lesions began to envelop Aristide's whole body, knowing full well what would happen to her. Moments later he felt a wave of warm liquid wash over his crouching form. Or at least he though he did. He could not, however, see any blood on his tattered F.E.A.R uniform. Not even the blood of Replica soldiers that he had killed outside. Confused, Artanis stood up and began to make his way to the orb-like thing suspended in the middle of the vast chamber. A rickety steel bridge lead to the front of the device where three figures were crouched. One was a brown haired man, and by his uniform was part of the Special Forces team sent to arrest Aristide. Another one laying on the ground and bleeding was a young woman in the same uniform, her sandy hair spilling over her pale face. The third was another woman, completely naked with long raven hair spilling in a tangled mess down her back. And it was she who fixed Artanis with her golden-red eyes...


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Artanis watch in a mix of horror and awe as Alma stood there in front of the machine-type-thing. The other two did not seemed fazed by her presence at all, in fact they seemed quite content that the mother of the apocalypse was standing there completely naked. The man tied to the machine had no freed himself and was kneeling beside the wounded woman, sorrow on his hardened face at her state. As Artanis took a step backwards the man noticed him at last and the bloody smear on the wall that was formerly Aristide.

'Hey you! Get over here and help me! Stokes is wounded!' he called in a very urgent manner, as if she had been laying there for hours.

'B...but...' was all Artanis was able to say, still held in Alma's stare.

'Damn it! Quit being a coward and get over here. She needs medical attention now,' the man screamed. Artanis forced himself to pull his vision off Alma and make his legs carry him to the wounded woman. Each step was fairly easy, but the sheer fear he felt towards Alma was gargantuan and it grew with every step closer. 'Listen man, you have to calm down. Alma isn't going to hurt you as long as you help me save Stokes.'

Artanis nodded uneasily as he knelt down beside the woman, who was now very pale and cold. She had lost a lot of blood and it appeared that a lung may have been punched by the bullet. He quickly pulled out a red MedKit and emptied it's contents onto the steel grate floor.

'I'm going to need you to hold her down as this can be quite tricky,' said Artanis, his training taking over his fear in the current situation. He knew he was no field doctor but the others didn't have to know that. 'The main issue is that her lung may have been punched by the bullet,' he pointed out. 'The bullet itself may be in there still, and I don't have the equipment to remove it.' With this news Alma stepped forward, a strange aura surrounding her body as concentration filled her golden-red eyes.

'The woman's lung is healthy,' she whispered in a soothing voice. 'But the bullet is indeed inside her. Outside in their transport is equipment suitable enough to remove it safely but she cannot be moved without causing further damage. I can remove the bullet if the young man would kindly stand back.' As she spoke it was uncertain if Alma was speaking to anyone in particular or nobody at all. Artanis did as she said and took a few steps back, more than was necessary but enough to calm his nerves. Alma seemed to tense up as she focused her mind into removing the alien object from Stokes' body. The darkness of the chamber seemed to itself focus on her wound, willing the small round to leave the body and cease any further harm to her.

As this was all happening, Artanis chanced a glance at Alma standing there. He had learned to fear this woman and now she was standing not five meters away from him, surrounded in power and majesty. Everything he had learned said that Alma was a psychopathic young woman with a psychic power beyond imagining. And here she was using said powers to save the life of someone who was ordered to kill her. And she was supposed to be undead, why was she standing there so full of life? Artanis shook his head from the confusing thoughts and focused on the here and now. He had to focus on how the colour was returning to Stokes' face as the bullet left her body and disintegrated in mid-air. Or how the man was watching the pair of women with his stern gaze, not showing how he felt about the current situation. Or something completely random like how Alma was...pregnant?

Alma stood back and motioned at the MedKit dreamily then strolled over to sit in the chair of the device. Artanis gathered his wits and went to work, administering a shot of adrenaline and some antibiotics before wrapping some bandages around the wound. Pleased with the result of the patch job on Stokes, he stood up and packed away the MedKit. Together the two men lifted Stokes between them and carried her in a sitting position with Alma strolling behind them. It was a fair distance to the APC but the journey out seemed faster than the journey in, as though some otherworldly force was willing them out into the daylight once again.

Manuel "Manny" Morales sat comfortably in the team's APC with his favourite tunes blaring from the internal speakers. He was, however, not having a good time. While the Replica attacks had ceased after Becket and Stokes had entered the facility about an hour ago, he couldn't help but wonder if they had made it in time. Heck, he wasn't even sure the device Aristide had mentioned wouldn't drain Becket of his life, let alone destroy Alma.

As he hummed along to the chorus half-heartily, Morales noticed a blinking green light where there was no light a matter of seconds ago. This particular light was of great importance to Morales as it signified the return of Becket and Stokes. In a flurry of movement, Morales switched off his music and reactivated the bio-monitors on the dashboard. To his surprise there were two differences to when he had shut off the monitors when feed-back had distorted the readouts. The first was that the screen labelled "K. Stokes" displayed a poor bio-readout signifying that Stokes had sustained a major wounding. The second surprise was one of the previously blank screens now read "A. Drake, First Encounter Assault Recon".

'Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick. What the hell happened in there?' Morales asked to the silence of the APC interior. Realizing that the answer he sought would be provided for him once the team had gotten back to the safety of the APC, Morales quickly set to work. He opened the assault ramp and activated the auto-medic in the main hold to attend to Stokes. He set his seat to face the door so he could jump in and drive away if the team was being pursued. Finally he climbed into the turret and began to sweep the area for any Replica reinforcements that may come to spoil an otherwise clean get-away. He almost opened fire when his head-set crackled into life without any warning in such a tense moment. 'H...hello? Is that you Becket?' he asked in an attempt to calm his now haywire nerves.

'Negative. This is Sergeant Artanis Drake of F.E.A.R, Beta Squad. Is this Manuel Morales?' asked the stranger.

'Good to hear from you Drake. I read that Stokes is wounded and your heart-rate is abnormally high. Is everything okay down there?' Morales queried, concern for his team-mates taking hold once more.

'Aristide shot her while trying to escape. Don't worry, Stokes is fine. I patched her up as best i could with Alma's help. We need to get her into the APC now if she is going to...'

'Say again,' demanded Morales, uncertain of what he heard. 'Who is with you?'

'I repeat,' shouted Drake, somewhat annoyed. 'I am returning to the surface with Sergeant Becket, First Lieutenant Stokes and Alma Wade. Genevieve Aristide is KIA, and it was her that shot Stokes. I will explain later just right now Stokes needs medical attention.'

'Uh...acknowledged Sergeant Drake. I will start the engine for immediate Evac once you are aboard.' _Whoever this Drake guy was, he had better be damned good at explaining,_ thought Morales. In less than five minutes he was told that the person they were supposed to be protecting was dead and the person they were supposed to be hunting was joining them. As little sense as it made, nothing over the past few days made any sense. They were a Special Forces team, not First Encounter Assault Recon. Morales had seen most of his squad killed by something that wasn't within his ability to comprehend. Morales climbed back into the APC and waited by the ramp for the others to return. Sure enough, within thirty seconds of him standing there, Morales spotted Becket and, who he guessed was Drake, carrying Stokes between them. Following the trio closely was a little girl in a red dress, no older than eight years old. Or was she a shell of a woman in her late twentys, naked and heavily pregnant? Whatever she was, one thing was for certain. She scared the hell out of poor Manny.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Artanis sat in the APC across from Lieutenant Stokes, choosing the best way to word his next question for Alma.

'So Alma,' he began. 'Can you explain to us how you are alive and why you have done such questionable things?' Alma seemed to become visibly downcast, as though she was a young child being reprimanded by a parent.

'I know I have caused a lot of people a lot of harm,' she replied, drawing a snort from the weakened Stokes. 'But I never once wanted to kill anyone. I was locked away for so long, my abilities grew without me. When my...when Harlan Wade released me he released my powers. I was overcome with anger. I lost control of my powers and they took control of me.' Artanis took this in and, not looking at her naked form, locked eyes with the upset woman.

'Was it you who caused the Origin Facility to explode? I remember Alpha Squad was ordered to enter the facility and destroy you. Can you elaborate on what happened?' Now, if it was even possible, Alma looked even sadder.

'That was not my doing. My first son destroyed the reactor and thus the facility. I was so upset that he would do that, that he didn't believe I was his mother. I...I...' At this the depressed woman broke into tears, sobs of sadness racking her body. Then, as Artanis reached for a handkerchief for the woman she had reverted back to her eight-year-old form in the red dress. The sight of the small girl crying hit a raw nerve in Artanis, remembering the young girl he used to play with as a child in his home town.

'I have a question,' blurted out Becket, cutting into Artanis' thoughts. 'As I got closer to each objective you kept appearing and attacking me. Why would you do that if you didn't want to hurt me?'

'Um...I...I...' stuttered the little girl. 'It's because I love you,' she blurted out through her tears and sobs.

'I don't care if you were locked away for a decade or not. Love does not mean trying to absorb me!' Becket shouted angrily. 'Love means looking after the one you love and never letting harm befall them!' Alma stared at him, wide eyed and horrified.

'I never wanted to do that!' she cried. 'I was trying to hold you and kiss you. I wanted to show how much I loved you. When I saw you I lost control of my emotions,' she wailed. Artanis stepped in to keep the peace.

'SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!' he roared, surprising everyone in the APC. None of them expected the young man to explode like that.

Several hours later and the rag-tag group of soldiers had taken refuge in an abandoned house in the outskirts of Auburn. Stokes was recovering from her wound, Morales was repairing the APC and Becket was keeping watch from a second storey window. Artanis, after failing to reach F.E.A.R HQ on his communicator, had taken to strolling around the two-storey house with his finger close to the trigger of his custom assault rifle. He had been on edge recently and he didn't know why, as if he was on too much adrenaline. He _felt_ something was drawing near, but what intentions it had he could not say for sure.

Suddenly Alma appeared from behind a corner, back to her true age and clothed in a long silky red dress. The appearance of the young woman caused Artanis to swear rather loudly, and several seconds later he swore he heard Stokes laughing weakly.

'Damn it Alma, don't do that. I could have shot you,' the tensed up F.E.A.R operative reprimanded. Alma whispered an apology and began to leave, but Artanis stopped her. 'Come here. We need to talk.'

Alma turned to face the young man but, instead of seeing hatred in his silver eyes, she saw fear. Artanis was filled with it, it was in every corner of his mind. Not a fear of her, that had passed hours ago. What gripped him now was a fear of another darkness, as powerful as Alma but with no compassion, no love for anything other than the destruction of all. 'He is coming, isn't he?' Artanis whispered. Alma could only nod in silence, feeling the fear in Artanis pulse with renewed vigour. He was coming, she could feel it even from where he was at that moment. When the first one arrived he would make his move, already Alma had lost control of the Replica forces. She thought they had less than a day before her first son found them, and then unless they kept moving there would be no safe place from him.

Paxton Fettel was free and he wanted what he always had. Blood...

On the other side of the city, Alma's first son Jason was moving rapidly towards his mother's location. He felt three presences inside his mind, he knew one was Alma and one was the bastard Paxton. The last was someone new, someone with the same feeling as his own resonating signature. _But wait_, he thought as he moved with inhuman speed through the ruined city._ I feel another. Only barely but it is there, so close to mother. It is so weak, and yet the potential is vast. I must get to them before Paxton can and either protect them...or kill them._

Auther's note: Thanks for the heads up on the typo relating to Jason being the second son. Fixed now. It has also been brought to my attention that Alma isn't as violent as in the games. I won't spoils too much but I want to humanise Alma, so she was violent because she was hurt. Finding love with Becket and earning the love of her son Jason has healed her. But rest assured that she will kick some serious Replica rear. I would like to know how Artanis' psychic abilities are developed. Do I give him heightened reflexes, telekinesis or no abilities at all?


End file.
